AMT/K/1

86 letters, written to AMT's mother, except where otherwise stated. 1 Apr. 1923 - Jan. 1954. Numbered, annotated and dated by Mrs Sara Turing. Mrs Turing's arrangement has been preserved. Included with letters are photostat copies of 2 caricatures by Mrs Turing:- 'The View from Matron's Window' (drawing of AMT ruminating); and 'Hockey or Watching the Daisies Grow' (drawing of AMT looking at a daisy during a hockey match). Both drawings are annotated by Mrs Turing 'sent to Miss Dunwall, matron at Hazelhurst. Date Spring term 1923.'

ALS on Schrödinger's quantum theory, and referring to a paper which AMT wants to obtain. Mrs Turing notes that the letter refers to a paper by AMT on 'the reaction of sulphites and iodates in acid solution', sent to H.M.I. Sherborne. 20 Nov. 1929. 1 sh.

ALS on his prize book from Sherborne (probably Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik by J. von Neumann, according to Mrs Turing); also mentions Natural wonders every child should know (the book which opened his eyes to science, according to Mrs Turing). Born and Courant have joined the Mathematics Faculty. KCC. 16 Oct. 1933. 1 sh.

ALS, AMT has seen Newman, who is not yet able to attend to AMT's theory (on 'Computable Numbers', according to Mrs Turing), but has examined AMT's note for C.R. (Comptes Rendues, according to Mrs Turing). KCC. 4 May [1936]. 1 sh.

ALS, AMT has just got his main paper (on 'Computable Numbers', according to Mrs Turing) ready and sent in; correspondence about the Comptes Rendues has gone astray, and Alonzo Church has just published a paper on the same subject in America, though Mr Newman and AMT think the method sufficiently different to warrant publication of AMT's paper too. AC is at Princeton, so AMT has decided definitely about going there. KCC. 29 May [1936]. 1 sh.

ALS, first letter from Princeton, describing mathematicians: J. v. Neumann, Weyl, Courant, Hardy, Einstein, Lefschetz, and Church, whom AMT has seen; AMT's paper may help Church to carry out a programme of work he has in mind. 'I don't know how much I shall have to do with this programme of his, as I am now developing the theory in a slightly different direction, and shall probably start writing a paper on it in a month or two. After that I may write a book.' The Graduate College, Princeton. 6 Oct. [1936]. 3 sh.

ALS on 'a possible application of the kind of thing I am working on at present. It answers the question "What is the most general kind of code or cipher possible", and ... enables one to construct a lot of particular and interesting codes. One of them is pretty well impossible to decode without the key and very quick to encode. I expect I could sell them to H.M. Government for quite a substantial sum, but am rather doubtful about the morality of such things.' Hardy is in Princeton for the term. Graduate College, Princeton. 14 Oct. [1936]. 2 sh.

ALS; AMT is about to send his paper on group theory to L.M.S. or to Annals of Mathematics (Princeton mathematical journal); on New Statesman and Nation competition 'Looking Glass Zoo', set by Eddington and answered by Champernowne. Graduate College, Princeton. 27 Jan. 1937. 1 sh.

ALS; Eisenhart (Dean of Graduate College) is pressing AMT to stay another year at Princeton; AMT thinks he will return to England. Braithwaite has asked for a reprint (of 'On Computable Numbers' according to Mrs Turing), but AMT is disappointed at its reception in Princeton. Graduate College, Princeton. 22 Feb. [1937]. 1 sh.

ALS; the paper AMT refereed was hopeless; he has begun work on his Ph.D. thesis; Scholz of Münster has sent him a reprint of a German translation of his L.M.S paper. Graduate College, Princeton. 19 Oct. [1937]. 1 sh.

ALS; AMT has been asked by Cambridge Maths Faculty to examine the Ph.D. thesis of the candidate whose paper he refereed for L.M.S.; he has decided, after hesitation, to take it on. Graduate College, Princeton. 23 Nov. 1937. 1 sh.

ALS on a performance of Murder in the Cathedral, and on drawings to illustrate the 4th dimension. Includes a drawing of a 4 dimensional cube on an inserted sh. Graduate College, Princeton. 7 Mar. [1938]. 2 sh.

ALS; AMT's King's Fellowship has been renewed; he is unlikely to take a job in USA unless England is at war before July; on visit to St. John's College, Annapolis with Will Jones, and on the syllabus there. Graduate College, Princeton. 12 Apr. [1938]. 1 sh.

ALS on Gilbert and Sullivan; on AMT's Ph.D. thesis, which has greatly expanded under Church's suggestions, and has just been accepted; AMT was offered a job as Neumann's assistant, but has refused and will return to Cambridge. Graduate College, Princeton. 17 May [1938]. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from I.J. Good to AMT, beginning 'Dear Prof' and signed 'Jack'. IJG asks about the number of neurons in the brain; he understands that by next Oct. he and AMT will have swapped towns, 'Presumably you won't have much lecturing to do in M/C'. 131 Cheviot Gdns, NW2. 25 July 1948. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to I.J. Good, beginning 'Dear Jack', and signed 'Yours Prof'; AMT has repeatedly looked in books on neurology for the number IJG asked about, without success. AMT's own estimate is 3.108< N < 3.109. It is based on the diagram p.201 of the latest Starling. Many physiologists give answers from 107 to 1011. KCC. [c. 28 July 1948]. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to I.J. Good, signed 'Yours, Prof.'; AMT is glad his estimate of number of neurons is not too essentially wrong; AMT is about to make a record of the chess machine designed by himself and Champernowne, with a view to playing the Shaun-Michie machine. On 'thinking in analogies', AMT thinks of the brain as having analogies forced on it by its own limitations. AMT thinks IJG's identity can be proved by Poisson's summation formula or by contour integration. KCC. 18 Sept. [1948]. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to Professor J.Z. Young, F.R.S.; on brain structure and the storage capacity of the brain; and on AMT's current work, a mathematical theory of embryology, which may give satisfactory explanations of 1) Gastrulation 2) Polygonally symmetrical structures 3) Leaf arrangement 4) Colour patterns on animals 5) Patterns on nearly spherical structures such as some Radiolaria . This work is related to his work on brain structure, which has to be achieved by the genetical embryological mechanism. Hollymeade, Adlington Rd., Wilmslow. 8 Feb. 1951. 2 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to R.O. Gandy, whose Ph.D. thesis was supervised by AMT. AMT discusses ROG's Eddington essay; the word 'structure' still causes worries; Bourbaki are unsatisfactory, as they seem to assume that 'A defines a structure on B' is synonymous with 'A is a structure on B'. AMT mentions a discussion on machines (probably a broadcast discussion with Prof. Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, Prof. M.H.A. Newman and R.B. Braithwaite, according to Mrs Turing). Wilmslow. [Early 1952]. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to 'Maria', a child aged 6, sent express, suggesting puzzles for her to do on the train. AMT will be at Club Méditerrané, Ipsos-Corfu, Greece. Includes 3 diagrams of puzzles. Hollymeade, Adlington Road, Wilmslow. [p.m. 10 May 1953]. 1 sh.

TS copy of letter from AMT to R.O. Gandy; AMT is not surprised by unsatisfactory response of ROG's audience regarding notation; AMT got a similar reception about 3 or 4 years ago when he talked about deduction theorem at Bristol. Wilmslow. [1953]. 1 sh.

Not present. A note about the return of the letters to Mrs Turing for copying and presentation to Sherborne School, 27 Apr. 1966, mentions 86 letters. No. 85 may have been omitted by Mrs Turing from her original gift, or she may have mis-numbered the letters

Xerox of ALS from AMT to R.O. Gandy; on ROG's 'Gödel stuff'. AMT discusses ROG's attempt to get round Gödel's arguments, and concludes 'So one must respect Gödel's difficulties unless one includes some method of proof which does not lend itself to this sort of formulation.' AMT discusses '61 proofs of a formula of Gandy'. He can do the rainbow problem successfully for sound, but total failure for electricity. Wilmslow. [? 1954, according to ROG]. 2 sh.